Best 3D Castlevania game?

[Phediuk]

Sure the 3D games aren't as well-regarded as the side-scrollers, but which one is the best, anyway?

Not counting Judgment or that rail shooter arcade game.

I think I'm going with Lords of Shadow on this one, not because it's amazing but because it's better than the competition here.

 

[Mars People]

Gonna say none of them. They all suck for different reasons.

 

[Andromeda]

Bloodborne

 

[Mr. Poolman]

With the Castlevania name, neither is good.

Otherwise my answer is "Dark Souls"

 

[Prophet Five]

I like Curse of Darkness a lot.

 

[AzureFlame]

Lament, Curse and Lord 1.

 

[Hu3]

The original Lords of shadow is very good. Combat traversal and music feels very Castlevania

 

[FallenGrace]

I rather liked Lament of Innocence personally.

 

[Dullahan]

Curse of Darkness by a wide margin. Probably the best OST in the series too.

 

[Xenoboy]

Pandora's Tower

 

[ghostcrew]

I hit they all suck. I'm sorry! I'm a huge Castlevania fan and I genuinely think that every 3D Castlevania is bad.

 

[Knight in Shining Armani]

Lords of Shadows is a good game. Killer ass voice acting too.

 

[Hippopuncher12]

I thought overall Lament was pretty good. Lords of Shadow is good also.

 

[Deleted member 2669]

64 and Legacy of Darkness are the most interesting, but I love Lament's atmosphere, aesthetics, and stage play-like cutscene and voice direction. 64 lets you play as a girl and without having to unlock her, so I voted for that.

 

[TYRANITARR]

They're all bad.

YsVIII is the best 3D MetroidCastlevania game you'll ever play. Try it!

 

[John Rabbit]

People not voting Curse of Darkness haven't played it.

 

[Kinsei]

Curse of Darkness. I think Lament and Lords of Shadow 1 are good too.

 

[StarPhlox]

I recently played Lament of Innocence and it was bad, unfortunately. I'd play Curse of Darkness if it was available these days, but I'm not open to any of these other games being acceptable.

 

[TransEuropaExpress]

Bloodborne

Click to shrink...

Fuck yeah.

I hit they all suck. I'm sorry! I'm a huge Castlevania fan and I genuinely think that every 3D Castlevania is bad.

Click to shrink...

This.

People not voting Curse of Darkness haven't played it.

Click to shrink...

I played it and returned it to the store within about four hours. I thought it was even more boring than the first PS2 3D Vania, what an achievement.

 

[Slim]

LoS. 3D castlevania sucks though.

 

[Brass Body Dave]

Lament of Innocence was good but I haven't revisited it

Why are people making up stupid shit and saying bloodborne, they're nowhere near related

 

[Deleted member 36578]

I played through every single one of em and I voted Curse of Darkness. It captured the best parts of the igavanias in terms of weapons, monsters, loot, map traversal, secrets and had an addicting pet demon system. Also had my favorite music out of all the 3d Castlevainas. I even dug the story / characters in the game and was thrilled when the characters were carried over to the Netflix show. Great stuff.

 

[Deleted member 36578]

Lament of Innocence was good but I haven't revisited it

Why are people making up stupid shit and saying bloodborne, they're nowhere near related

Click to shrink...

Tbh I've always felt the Souls series was the closest thing to a modern take on a 3d Castlevania and I immediately loved the series just because of it. Demon Souls was my secret Castlevania replacement when Konami couldn't deliver anymore. Not a fan of Lord's of Shadow at all.

 

[Sky Walker]

Bloodborne

Click to shrink...

Well, it's the best Castlevania. Not just the 3D.

 

[papercan]

Bloodborne

Click to shrink...

pretty much.
After a few hours i was certain that finally someone had finally nailed 3d castlevania. I'm amazed that there aren't other devs jumping on the bandwagon now that konami are dead and from software has seemingly moved on.

 

[Hieroph]

Curse Of Darkness has the best gameplay and the best music.

 

[SantaC]

Voting curse of darkness for the stealing system.

 

[Team_Feisar]

I never played a 3d castlevania besides lord of shadows 1.
I know they are not as good as the 2d ones, but it's sad that there is no easy way to replay them. Not even the lord of shadows games.

 

[Laxoon]

I have played them all expect LoS2.

LoS doesn't feel like a castlevania at all in any aspect, irritatingly it takes more from god of war and shadow of the colossus.

Curse of Darkness feels more like a bad dmc clone like it doesn't even try to make exploring interesting, iirc most the game were long boring corridors, I literally fell asleep playing it.

Lament is a slightly better version of Curse but it's still just mediocre.

CV64/Legacy of Darkness is the only 3D castlevania that feels like one. It has the monsters, the music, the atmosphere, the platforming, it has all the stuff together that the others don't or just have a few of. Its only 'ok' at best is the problem.
Coincidentally, and this is just my opinion, it's the game that feels the most like a rudimentary dark souls with the weapon, sub items, camera perspective, gameplay speed, general atmosphere and setting.

 

[Ricky]

The original Lords of shadow is very good. Combat traversal and music feels very Castlevania

Click to shrink...

Could you link some songs that remind you of Castlevania because the music was my biggest disappointment with the game. After the job Michiru Yamane did on previous games, my expectations were pretty high.

 

[GameShowPresident]

I've only played a few hours of 64 and Lords of Shadow. 64 had skeletons on motorcycles so I have to give it to that one.

 

[hikarutilmitt]

Curse of Darkness, hands down. It has fewer of the issues from Lament, makes some of the issues still present more manageable and the gameplay is actually pretty good. Lords of Shadow is not a CV, it's a God of War clone with a DMC-style sideboot sheen and the vania name attached (I did enjoy LOS, but it's not vania). 64 games are garbo.

 

[hotcyder]

I clicked on Lords of Shadow expecting it to be dead last, and yet ResetEra got it right for once. It's the best Castlevania since Aria of Sorrow. They should of kept making em after 2.

 

[Concelhaut]

Dark Souls

 

[Ryuhza]

Curse is my favorite, but it's got easy to spot issues. But it hit two of my favorite Castlevania-isms with the wide variety of weapons and great music. I also found the steal mechanic to be surprisingly compelling, and the combat itself to be fun enough. The commandable familiars were neat too. And uh... chairs!

Biggest issue was the largely boxy, barren, and bland level design and lack of real traversal mechanics. Flip flip flip flip!

 

[andymcc]

I hit they all suck. I'm sorry! I'm a huge Castlevania fan and I genuinely think that every 3D Castlevania is bad.

Click to shrink...

me too.

also, everyone, please stop saying bloodborne/souls-- thanks.

 

[Mauricio_Magus]

They all suck.

Play Bloodborne.

 

[Silvergun-Blue]

Lords of shadow was a solid effort, had some pacing issues though imo and overall would have been better as its own thing instead of having the castlevania name attached to it.

I enjoyed Lament of Innocence way back when I played it but that was a while ago.

Castlevania 64 is a game I have a decent amount of affection for, one thing they absolutely nailed was the atmosphere and I don't think it gets enough credit for that.

 

[eXistor]

Either Curse of Darkness or the first Lords of Shadow, but even those are mediocre at best.

I haven't played Legacy of Darkness, from what I understand it's one of the better 3D ones, but I'm not paying what it costs to find out for myself.

 

[MoogleWizard]

The N64 ones were the only ones I liked. They are flawed, as all early 3D games are, but they were the only 3D CVs that got the atmosphere and mood of Castlevania right. They also did a good job of translating the platforming to 3D, which is basically non-existent in the other 3D games. The later 3D games are more like 3D Metroidvanias, whereas 64 and Legacy of Darkness are more classic Castlevania.

 

[Deleted member 36578]

I clicked on Lords of Shadow expecting it to be dead last, and yet ResetEra got it right for once. It's the best Castlevania since Aria of Sorrow. They should of kept making em after 2.

Click to shrink...

I find your post absolutely fascinating especially for the fact you hold Aria in such high regard as do I. I'm a huge Castlevania fan and have played through every game in the series, however I completely disliked where they took Castlevania with the Lord's of Shadow games. To me they completely left behind everything I liked about the franchise. They were less like Castlevainas and more similar to God of Wars imo. Can you elaborate on why you feel this way about Lord's of Shadow?

 

[famikon]

Bloodborne

Click to shrink...

Correct answer.

 

[hotcyder]

I find your post absolutely fascinating especially for the fact you hold Aria in such high regard as do I. I'm a huge Castlevania fan and have played through every game in the series, however I completely disliked where they took Castlevania with the Lord's of Shadow games. To me they completely left behind everything I liked about the franchise. They were less like Castlevainas and more similar to God of Wars imo. Can you expand on why you feel this way about Lord's of Shadow?

Click to shrink...

Absolutely.

I'm fine with the fact they didn't do a transliteration of the 2D games to 3D which is how we ended up with the confusing and clunky N64 and PS2 games.
They obviously found something that worked in the character action genre, and to me it felt like a rework not of the Iga style Mapformers, but something more like the SNES and Mega Drive games that were about spectacle with a little of the technical.

Frankly, I love the look and the lore of the world too - getting Patrick Stewart to record all the interstices, and the mid-european style fantasy gives it a tone that I wish even dedicated D&D inspired RPGs could try to reach. They really pushed that art direction and aesthetic to do a lot of work, which I think is a retort to the argument of its lack of creativity.

It's not *classic* Vania but I didn't really want it to be; I was happy they gave a great team with some great ideas a crack at the bat. I already got the best of Igavania with Aria, I got the best of Classic Vania with Super.

 

[Temtastic Muns]

Lament of Innocence had some lovely music.

 

[spman2099]

They all suck... but Legacy of Darkness is the best of them. The first two N64 games actually tried to be Castlevania games. Unlike that Kojima horseshit, which desperately wanted to be God of War (not the good God of War, either).

 

[Deleted member 36578]

Absolutely.

I'm fine with the fact they didn't do a transliteration of the 2D games to 3D which is how we ended up with the confusing and clunky N64 and PS2 games.
They obviously found something that worked in the character action genre, and to me it felt like a rework not of the Iga style Mapformers, but something more like the SNES and Mega Drive games that were about spectacle with a little of the technical.

Frankly, I love the look and the lore of the world too - getting Patrick Stewart to record all the interstices, and the mid-european style fantasy gives it a tone that I wish even dedicated D&D inspired RPGs could try to reach. They really pushed that art direction and aesthetic to do a lot of work, which I think is a retort to the argument of its lack of creativity.

It's not *classic* Vania but I didn't really want it to be; I was happy they gave a great team with some great ideas a crack at the bat. I already got the best of Igavania with Aria, I got the best of Classic Vania with Super.

Click to shrink...

I totally hear ya and thanks for the reply.
Btw absolutely love Super myself :)

 

[baconcow]

Damn, that drop to from Lords of Shadow to the sequel. What happened there?

 

[Dullahan]

I clicked on Lords of Shadow expecting it to be dead last, and yet ResetEra got it right for once. It's the best Castlevania since Aria of Sorrow. They should of kept making em after 2.

Click to shrink...

Honestly I'm shocked by the poll. That bland turd that wastes it's amazing voice cast should be dead last.

 

[Deleted member 4869]

Lament of Innocence.

I love origin stories.

 

[Glass Arrows]

I have not played the 3D Iga-helmed Castlevanias but for what it's worth, Lords of Shadow isn't a bad game. While it is a little derivative of God of War, I'd honestly rather play it than any God of War game prior to Dad of War (which I have not played, so I have no opinion). The music is excellent, the story and characters are not that great but the voice acting talent does their best with the mediocre material and has some great delivery, the gameplay is on par with most GoW-esque games, the art direction is some of the best of any fantasy game in the last several years, and overall it is a fun game to play if you like that sort of dark fantasy-esque vibe.

Even Lords of Shadow 2 is pretty fun in its better moments, it's just a shame that it's so uneven.